Biya prefers appointees to elected officials

A few weeks ago, there were strong public criticisms within the ruling CPDM over the appointment ofthe party’s Pioneer Permanent Divisional Coordinators by President Paul Biya, who is the CPDM National President.

The Permanent Divisional Coordinators would lord it over the party’s Section Presidents who were elected late last year.

Many elected CPDM officials as well as militants recalled that at the last Ordinary Congress in 2011, Biya had declared that the CPDM is not a party of état major.

However, some CPDM bigwigs desperately tried to defend the controversial decision byBiya to appoint Permanent Divisional Coordinators. They argued that in the CPDM, the elected Section Presidents are the real bosses of the appointed Divisional Coordinators.

In an interview granted The Post in June 13, 2016, the former Minister of Forestry and Wildlife, Prof. Elvis Ngolle Ngolle; pioneer Coordinator of the CPDM National Academy as well as one of the appointed Pioneer Permanent Divisional Coordinators, claimed that the elected Section Presidents are bosses to the Divisional Coordinators.

During his ongoing marathon visits to the 10 Regions to install the Regional and Divisional Coordinators, the Secretary General of the Central Committee of the CPDM, Jean Nkuete, has been trying to allay the fears of elected CPDM officials.

He claims that the recently appointed Permanent Divisional Coordinators are not there to replace Section Presidents.

He also claims that the Divisional Coordinators are just there to accompany the Section Presidents.

Despite claims by the CPDM bigwigs that CPDM Section Presidents are bosses of the Permanent Divisional Coordinators, the installation of Section Presidents prove the contrary.

For instance, after his installation as the MezamCPDM Divisional Coordinator on June 21, 2016 in Bamemda, Paul AtangaNji, Minister of Special Duties, immediately started installingelected CPDM Section Presidents.

On Friday, June 24, Atanga Nji travelled to Bali Nyonga (Mezam III CPDM Section) and Tubah (Mezam V CPDM Section), where he installed Section Presidents. So the question that arises is; whether the CPDM subordinates install their bosses into their functions. The answer is no.

President Biya has structured the CPDM Party the way he has structured the administration of the country. In the CPDM, Regional Coordinators are like Governors, Divisional Coordinators are like SDOs and Section Presidents are like DOs.

It is well known that in Cameroon, Governors boss SDOs whom they do install and SDOs boss DOs whom they also install in office.

Disbelief In Elected Officials

Political analysts in Cameroon would agree Biya does not believe in elected officials either in politics or in governance, perhaps because principally elected officials are answerable to the electorates.Biya thus, seems to have more trust in officials whom he appoints since they pay allegiance to him.

For instance, Biyaappoints Government Delegates to lord over elected Mayors. In Limbe, Kumba, Douala, Yaounde, Bamenda, Bafoussam, Garoua and so on, Government Delegates call the shots, while Mayors are left to handle petty projects.

In Douala, the annual budget of the City Council headed by a Government Delegate hovers between FCFA 36 and FCFA 40 billon, while the total annual budgets adopted by all the five municipal councils (Douala 1-5) headed by mayors, is less than FCFA 10 billion.

A similar scenario also obtains at the Senate where 70 of the 100 Senators are elected, while 30 are appointed by the President of the Republic.

The current Pioneer President of the Senate, Marcel NiatNjifenji, and the President of the CPDM Group in the Senate, Peter MafanyMusonge, were both designated by Biya from the list of appointed Senators; another evidence that Biyaprefers to trust those he appoints rather than elected officials.